For a first cook
Start here
New to cooking? Start with these ten. They build on each other, and by the last one you’ll be cooking without a recipe.
Work down the list in order. Nothing below assumes anything you have not already done above it.
Step 1: Scrambled eggs, two ways
Heat control, which is the one thing every recipe after this one assumes you have. Eggs set at a temperature you can see, so you learn what too hot looks like before it matters.
Builds on nothing. This is where it starts.
Step 2: Tomato pasta in 13 minutes
Running two things at once. The sauce and the pasta have to finish together, and salting the water is the only chance the pasta itself gets seasoned.
Builds on Scrambled eggs, two waysAbout 16 min
Step 3: Carrot and coriander soup
Softening onions without browning them, then tasting and adjusting at the end. A blender hides most mistakes, so this is a safe place to learn what seasoning does.
Builds on Tomato pasta in 13 minutesAbout 35 min
Step 4: One-pan roast chicken legs with herbed vegetables
Letting the oven do the work, and how to tell when chicken is actually cooked rather than guessing. One tray, so there is nothing to coordinate.
Builds on Carrot and coriander soup1 hour 5 min
Step 5: One-pot green lentil dahl
Why spices go into hot fat before anything else, and how a one-pot dish builds flavour in layers instead of all at the end.
Builds on One-pan roast chicken legs with herbed vegetablesAbout 1 hour 7 min
Step 6: Pea risotto
Judging texture by eye rather than by the clock. You add stock slowly and stop when it looks right, which is the first recipe here without a fixed cooking time.
Builds on One-pot green lentil dahlAbout 40 min
Step 7: How to roast a chicken
A whole bird: seasoning ahead, resting it properly, and making gravy from what is left in the tray. This is the first meal here you could put in front of guests.
Builds on Pea risottoAbout 1 hour 10 min
Step 8: Classic cottage pie
Browning mince properly for flavour, then assembling a dish in layers. It also freezes, so it is the first recipe that pays you back twice.
Builds on How to roast a chickenAbout 1 hour 35 min
Step 9: White tin loaf
Yeast, kneading and proving. Bread runs to its own schedule rather than yours, and the dough tells you when it is ready by feel, not by time.
Builds on Classic cottage pieAbout 2 hours 35 min
Step 10: Victoria sponge
Baking is chemistry, not cooking: weigh accurately, cream properly, fold gently. Get this one right and most cakes are a variation on it.
Builds on White tin loafAbout 1 hour 15 min
What comes after the tenth
The ladder teaches ten dishes. The guides underneath teach the handful of things those dishes have in common, which is what lets you cook the eleventh without being told how.
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